Portable terminals have become necessities of modern life for people of all ages. Thus, service providers and terminal manufacturers are competitively developing differentiated products and services.
For example, the portable terminal has developed into a multimedia device capable of providing various services such as a phonebook service, a game service, a Short Message Service (SMS), an electronic mail (e-mail) service, a wake-up call service, an MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3 (MP3) service, a scheduling service, a digital camera service, a Multimedia Message Service (MMS), and a wireless Internet service.
In order to use a packet data service including the multimedia message service and the wireless Internet service, the aforementioned portable terminal may need to perform connection with an AP of the corresponding service.
That is, the portable terminal uses the packet data service by transmitting data to the AP. The portable terminal cannot use the packet data service in environments where the AP does not exist.
In accordance with use of a battery with limited capacity, if the aforementioned portable terminal does not operate during a certain time, it enters a power save mode to increase a usage time thereof.
Also, although the portable terminal enters the power save mode, it operates a Wi-Fi module to periodically transmit signals for searching APs.
That is, a hardware module of the portable terminal is changed to a sleep state by the power save mode. Because current is consumed in units of several tens of milli-amperes when the portable terminal maintains the Wi-Fi module compulsorily in a wakeup state during a certain time, a usage time of the portable terminal is shortened.
Therefore, an apparatus and method for minimizing power consumption in a portable terminal which enters a sleep mode is needed.